Tuesday, july 9th. Good evening everyone. A new chapter for barnes noble today but how that story plays out is still unwritten. Investors are betting on a happy ending pushing up by 5 today. They were reacting on news the ceo is out and the possibility the big retailer might break up and spin off the nook division. They out lived brick and mortar competitors like borders and walden books. What is next for the chain and can it survive . Reporter three years ago, barnes noble made a bet on its nook e reader bring income a new ceo William Lynch to ignite the business. But the nook never caught fire losing 475 million last year and now william lidge is the former ceo of barns and noble. And the companys problems are bigger than just the nook division. Sales did drop 34 in the most recent quarter, but sales in the physical stores and website also decreased by 10 . Even if barnes noble gepts rid of its nook business, the outlook for the company as a stand alone retailer is hazy. Amazon and other retailers are tough competition in the Book Business as people read on kindles and ipads. Over the past five years sales at u. S. Bookstores have fallen by nearly 3 but the analyst isnt dismissing Barnes Nobles retail presence yet saying sales struggled but believes the retailer meets a demand. I go in there. Take my kids in there to look at games, kids stuff, toys. Its a great store with a lot of traffic. The College Bookstore business has a lot of value. Im oldschool fashioned. I like the feel of a book. I love the portability of a kindle or ipad. I like reading wherever i go. At barnes noble we come with the kids to play up starps to play in the kids part. Reporter there will always be people that want to go to a bookstore and browse before buying, but the question for barnes noble is will there be enough people doing that to keep the stores a live . For nightly Business Report im courtney regan. Joining us now to talk more about the nations changing tail landscape is mr. Feldman. Good to have you with us. Thank you. Lets talk first about barns and noble. Can it survive, will it survive and what must it do to survive . Well, i think it can survive if it creates an engaging experience. People like to go to the bookstor bookstore. People want to browse. Amazon isnt good for browsing. Amazon is good for buying and having something shipped but how do you walk into the book storm or go to the website and browse around . Its a different experience for the bookstore. For all brick and mortar retail, there is a reason for it and a reason to exist and to drive people into the stores. Joe, im with you. I like to browse and touch and feel and all of that but, you know, amazon is so dominant in the retail space. There was a story in Time Magazine not long ago with the headline will amazon take over the world . It sounds like an exaggeration but sounds like they are. Can anybody top what amazon is doing . Amazon is doing a phenomenal job in categories, books, music, electronics but why couldnt walmart out amazon. Walmart has thousands of stores, logisticsbased company that sales stuff like amazon. Why cant they leverage that need . The customer wants to pick up the goods in the store that day, shiped to their house, however they buy that item, walmart can provide it. Amazon is trying to open more Distribution Centers for sameday delivery. You also get service, private label at stores. There is other reasons to go to the store beyond getting the item delivered to your house. You raise an interesting point there, joe, and i begin to think of apple and the way samsung has come to them. They made a good run. Somebody will try and compete and effectively, eventually with amazon. Let me turn to the big box format, which is really Barnes Nobles thing. Do they have a real estate problem in the same way lots of analysts believe best buy has or had a real estate problem . Stores that are too big, too costly and have too many people in them . I do think there is an issue on that front, that the stores are quite large. They do, you know generally they are in very good locations, though. Thats the one big strength barnes noble does have. They have prime location. They dont have difficulty to get out of stores but the forum factor hasnt changed. The forum factor of the tv changed, smaller, thinner, you dont need as much space but maybe for books you dont want to house as many, but there are other things to do, whether its games, toys, there is other the caves within the stores. There is ways to use the space. There is no question this whole Business Model is changing and influx, but look out a couple of years, who will make it, who will not make it . I know macys and nordstrom are spending millions of dollars to have a site and lots of other retailers, but who makes it and doesnt . I think walmart makes it. I think home depot and lows is really not at risk from the internet. I think best buy makes it. I think best buy will make a good go and make a lot of stock. Nordstrom, macys, some players are investigating a lot now. They also offer good Service Within the stores. They offer didnt products. They offer private label in some cases. I think those are ways the big brick and mortar need to compete. They have to stand for something, thats my basic bottom line. Thank you very much. On wall street, stocks rose today on investor hopes this earning season will be okay. Specifically, the they reacted to those better than expected Quarterly Earnings and revenues from alcoa last night. Stocks moved higher and by the close, the nasdaq rose 19 and the s p 500 added nearly 12 points and just 17 points away from the alltime closing high. The yields on the tenyear at 2. 64 today. Rising Interest Rates scared investors and flow for money for bond funds. Pinco suffered an out flow of 14. 5 billion in june, the largest onemonth ex dis since recordkeeping began. Host of that money, nearly 10 million came out of the return fund. It lost more than 4 of its value so far this year. Research in motion officially changed its name to blackberry at the annual Shareholders Meeting today. But that wasnt the only big change at the struggling smart phone maker. Two longtime bored members announced they wont seek reelection and ceo hynes said hes open to partnerships. Not surprising given disappointing sales of the hand sets this came out this spring. Shares are down 19 so far this year but today rose almost 1 . The nations largest Supermarket Chain did shopping today. Krogers is buying Harris Teeter for 14 billion in cash. Give it a total now of 2100 supermarkets nationwide. Shares of kroger up more than 2. 5 today. More good news about housing, foreclosures declined in may from the same month a year ago while some houses also dropped. That news lifted shares of home builder stocks today. The big winner, dr horton up 7. 5 . While shares of Toll Brothers and kb homes rose more than 6 . Well look whether rising Mortgage Rates are turning buyers into renters. The Labor Department says the miss of hiring by u. S. Company was higher in may. Report also showed that advertised job openings in may increased by a fraction from a month before. But a Small Business owners group sees things a little differently. The National Federation of independent Business Reports that a measure of optimism by Small Business owners declined in june, following two straight months of gains. More owners reported raising prices and some plan to take on new hires, but many owners say demand for the products and services is still weak nncht market focus tonight, fedex takes off. Shares jumped on reports that William Yacktman is conten plating a buy. There was no comment from fedex or yacktman. They traded at eight times the normal volume before closing at 103. 18, thats up more than 4 1 3 . Pressure on ib ms Growth Markets may weaken some of ibms earnings and cash flow. Shares lost almost 2 to close at 191. 30, essentially flat for year to date. A licensing deal with cbs adding csi new york and other titles to next flix offerings and extending access to older shows. Netflix closed at 247. 38, up almost 200 in a year. By contrast Intuitive Surgical tumbled 16 after the Company Issued a gloomy earnings and sales warning that lead to downgrades today. The maker reports the Second Quarter numbers next thursday. Shared touched a low closing at 419 and change. Health Management Associates jumped on a report that this hospital operator is attracting takeover attention from other hospital companies. They are in disspeed with glen view capital. Shares have more than doubled in a year and todays news put shares higher on triple volume to 16. 75. Alaska air said traffic and revenue soared in june and announced plans to increase baggage and ticket change fees later this year. The stock took flight up 7. 5 to 55. 93. Smokers could get a break when new obamacare measures go into effect. A computer glitch will limit penalties they can charge smokers for coverage. The penalties could be up to 50 of the total premium but will reject some of the highest levees and Administration Says a fix could take at least a year. A powerful u. S. Sen tomorrow wa senator wants to create a system, legislation that would let state and city governments turn their Pension Plans over to private insurance companies. Under his plan, employers would pay a premium each year to a state licensed insurer. Workers would then receive fixed amount annuity payments after they retire. Hatch says his overhaul would ease financial strains on state and local governments, and Public Workers would get the type of benefits they want. And coming up, the most powerful financial regulators in the country want the biggest banks in the nation to meet tighter requirements, but will the new rules make them safer . But first a look at some of the stocks hitting alltime highs today. Grease is the word, the struggling greek government is close to reaching a deal with lenders to get the next big bailout payment by monday. But first, the finance administration will decide if they made enough Public Sector job cuts to receive another loan of more than 3 billion. While the International Fund helps grease rebound it doesnt have good news for the Global Economy today. The imf cut the Global Growth outlook for this year and next. Hampton pearson has the details. Reporter top e conn miconom predicting smaller Global Growth this year and next. China is leading the way among developing countries seeing a slowdown in economic growth. This means that the focus of policies would increasingly need to turn to boosting potential out ward growth in the case of china to achieving a more sustainable and balanced growth. Reporter the imf forecasts Global Growth from 3. 1 and 3. is the 2014 forecast. The u. S. Economy is weaker. The imf pegs u. S. Great at 1. 7 this year and 2. 7 in 2014. Down 2 10ths of a percent. How long will the sequester last and ben bernanke to taper the stimulus. Going forward, we think this was very much repricing episode and we expect to decrease, maybe not back to the levels of a few months ago but to decrease relative to the highs of the recent past. But one cannot rule further attacks of nerves along the way. Reporter leading economists and market watchers say its not just volatility that has all eyes on the feds. If the tapering causes slowing or Economic Activity or increases in Interest Rates that would have adverse effects where it might force the hand of other central banks. Reporter japan and Great Britain are two bright spots getting upward provisions to their growth forecast. As far as solutions to sluggish Global Growth, the imf wants the u. S. And other wealthy nations to adopt more progrowth policies and bring down the debt. For nightly Business Report, im Hampton Pearson in washington. Despite that forecast, there is good news about american boarers. More americans are able to pay down debt. Late payments on u. S. Credit cards fell to a 22 year low in the First Quarter of this year. If you pay off those cards and are saving more money in a credit union be careful. Credit unions have been raising fees on things like atm withdrawals and more. The reason, Credit Unions are looking to offset a decline in overdraft fees. Federal regulators are proposing strict new rules for the nations biggest banks. The federal reserve, the fdic and office of the comptroller are all teaming up to make sure banks increase the ratio of equity to loans from the current 3 to 5 and set aside higher reserves for deposit holding units. Kayla joins us no we more on what this means for the nations biggest lenders. You know, kayla, people are always worried to all of the financial crisis, are the banks safe . Do these new rules mean we can sit back and say the banks are not safer . It would appear to be so, suzy. This is one of the regulations that the policy makers have been eluding to for several years now. It limits the amount banks can borrow to Fund Activities, especially shortterm debt. So if push comes to shove, they wont have as much debt outstanding. There wont be as many investors and also, banks will be able to Fund Activities from day to day. The hope is, by eliminating some of that risk in the system, they will make the Banking System safer. This means they need basically more capital. They cant take as much risk. What in turn sdoes that mean . If im a stockholder, can they grow as fast as they otherwise would have been able to . I dont think so, tyler. Utility stock, we heard that mentioned but regulators want to make sure they wont be leverering up their balance sheet, ie borrowing more to reinvest capital and beef up returns and make the big profits they did before the crisis. They want them to have a steady earning stream, even if thats a lower earning stream. They will buy back stock and issue dividends but if you like utility stocks, thats where the ban banks are heading. What does this mean for loans . Were hearing how difficult it is to get a mortgage, car loans, what does it mean now . Lending going up entirely during the crisis, its taken along time for banks to bounce back. Regulators say one of the leading voices behind this registration said that what happened in 2008, 2009, 2010 was a lending implosion. Loans dried up almost entirely and that because youre now having a Bigger Capital base, some banks wont have to stop lending, even though the growth might be a little slower. Thats good news. Thanks for coming by. Kayla. Thank you. Washington is not only tightening up the oversight of banks to prevent another financial crisis but going after the raiding agencies. A judge cleared the way to let the federal government pursue the 5 billion civil suit that accuses the s p ratings declouding investors by deflating the ratings of risky sec kurpties before the financial crisis. If youve been contacted by a collection agency, you might like this story. A Debt Collection agency that federal regulators accused of harassing and abusing people behind on payments has agreed to pay 3. 2 million self penalty and ordered to stop calling debt tors several times a day. The penalty against Expert Global solutions, the Worlds Largest is the biggest ever leveed against a thirdparty debt collector. Two giants of the financial world, both longtime friends are involved in a big lawsuit against one another. One of billionaire ronald opearlman is suing Michael Milkin for fraud. Remember him . Clark exec sievutives say they deceived. Pearlman says the lawsuit is only business, nothing personal. Still ahead on the program, is your car a popular target for thieves . We have a list of the automobiles most likely to be stolen. Before we get to that, lets get a check on how stocks, bonds and commodities faired today. The ford f250 is a terrific vehicle for contract tomorrows and people towing boats and mobile homes but thats the problem. It is also now the new favorite among carp thieves specifically, its the ford f250 super duty crew cab with fourwheel drive the bad guys want. It has seven times the normal climbs compared to the average vehicle and the first time in ten years that the Cadillac Escalade was not in the top spot. Apparently, my prius is safe. Log on to our website nbr. Com for the complete list. We told you that foreclosures continue to drop and with housing prices recovering and confidence returning, the thought was that more renters would become buyers but Mortgage Rates closing in on 5 may turn that theory on its head. Diana olick has more. Reporter in cities across america, apartment buildings are going up. Rental demand took off after the housing crash, some called it rental nation as homeownership went from 69 in 2004 to 65 to the beginning of this year. The reasons were simple, financing and fear. I cant